


Corvethian Cuddles

by Venara



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-07 23:26:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16418045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Venara/pseuds/Venara
Summary: After joining an organization dedicated to keeping the cities safe from the monsters that stalk the wilds surrounding them a man finds a relationship in an unexpected place.





	Corvethian Cuddles

Tarren entered the great stone building, glad to be getting out of the steam and smoke filled street after the day of walking he'd had. As he entered the Besteirixa Division's hall, a large room decorated with the gigantic heads of hunted beasts, he spotted a table with a man wearing the Division's seal on his coat and walked over to him. 

“Write in your name and skill set?” The man said, shoving a clipboard towards Tarren. 

Tarren filled in the boxes on the paper with the pen from his pocket, feeling rather uncomfortable with just how few of the skills he could honestly say he had. Before he could do anything else the man spoke again. 

“Go join the other recruits over there, you'll be taken to your hall later.” The bored looking official pointed to a small gathering of people standing by a table with a platter of food resting on it. 

Tarren hesitated, but then walked over to join the group, taking in it's members as he moved across the hall. The first person he spotted was a man wearing a long coat and top hat, each decorated with small teeth and bones of the kills he had made as well as an ornate long-rifle with no scope. The man was chatting to the side with a similarly dressed Corvethian, a person with the general appearance of a velociraptor with a more upright posture and a lack of eyes, which were replaced by overlapping bony plates used for echolocation and armor and which ran all the way down their backs and tails.

Tarren overheard the man saying in a thick Meralonnian Noble accent, “but it does get lonely hunting without any partners so I thought I'd join up.” The nobleman then looked at Tarren and beckoned for him to join the two, asking as he did, “Oi, you there, we could use a third, what's your name?”

Tarren joined the pair by their table and quietly spoke.

“My name is Tarren,” he said as he set down his pack by his feet. 

The nobleman warmly said, “Well greetings Tarren, you may call me Manalock. My associate here is Karadisimalvitan.” Manalock looked pleased with himself when he saw the Corvethian smile, apparently he'd gotten the reptilian man's name right. 

“So, why is it that you've joined the Besteirixa Division?” The Corvethian quietly asked in his slightly hissing voice eying Tarren’s pack when a small clicking noise came from it. However, Tarren didn't have time to respond to the question because it was at that moment that a robed figure with the head of a snowy owl and the bare feet of a snow leopard walked through the door that led further into the building and said in a gruff voice, “Alright recruits I'm sergeant Kotarn. I'll be showing you to your sleeping quarters. You'll have tonight to settle in and then tomorrow the Captains that are here will select people from your group to be trained for their squads.” The Surren then led the group down the hall and ushered them into a large dorm, which he promptly left, closing the door behind him.

Tarren dropped his pack and flopped down onto one of many bunks and began to drift off to sleep. He was sure he’d need the rest for whatever came tomorrow. 

The next morning Tarren woke up to find the room deserted with no sign of anyone else but a piece of paper on his bed at his feet. He read the note and which said, “Tarren, you clearly need the sleep so I'll leave you to it. When you read this heck the clock. If it's past 8 then the rest of the group will be in the courtyard. -M”

Tarren checked the clock on the room’s wall to see that it was, it was 9:22. Tarren quickly shaved and hurriedly left to find the courtyard. When Tarren arrived in the courtyard he noticed Manalock watching a man in a long grey coat and face obscuring scarf clean a set of pistols. He walked over and watched the cleaning for a few minutes before the owlish Surren from the night before came out into the courtyard and called for quiet. 

“Everyone stop talking!” He barked. “I'm going to show you to the selection chamber,” he continued when everyone was quiet. “There a succession of captains will decide which of you recruits will be trained for their units. Now follow me,” he ordered before walking down a dark hallway with walls that were practically lined with pipes. 

“Just a small question but how many people are in each Captain's unit?” someone asked from near the back of the group. 

The guide spoke up and said, “That depends on the captain, some like to operate with entire airship crews and some only work with two or three people. One of the captains only takes one person from each group,” he then muttered, “spirits know what goes through her mind.” 

From there the walk progressed for in silence until a few minutes later the guide opened a door leading to a large room full of life sized portraits of all manner of people, all of which wore the insignia of a drake's head on a pike. 

“RECRUITS,” the Surren bellowed, “this is the hall of the first hunters! In this hall you will be initiated into the next generation of hunters. Now line up facing that door and get ready to be assigned to units,” the Surren said as he pointed to a door on the far end of the hall. “Once I leave a number of captains will pick you for their units and your training will begin.”

The seventeen recruits lined up and faced the door. The Surren then left the room and soon after a man wearing ornate plate mail entered. He introduced himself as Orrin before instructing every recruit to present arms. While most of them knew how to present arms with the weapons they had Tarren had no idea what to do with his two pistols and so he simply held them straight down at his sides. The armored captain took ten recruits that Tarren hadn't talked to as well as Manalock and the Corvethian from earlier. 

After the armored captain left a dark blue Corvethian strode in with a posture that was unusually upright for a Corvethian. The slender Corvethian’s tail barely moved. When they drew closer Tarren estimated the caption to be only slightly above five feet tall and judging by the darker coloration of the scales was female. The Corvethian had a much different method of selecting recruits. 

“Now, Recruits, I am going to push you. I want you to react to that the same way you'd react to an attack,” she said adding as an afterthought, “If that involves counter attacking then don’t actually hit me. I would hate to hurt one of you out of reflex.”

The captain then walked up to each recruit one at a time and pushed them with a fair amount of force. While the first was surprised by the small Corvethian’s power and fell from the push the next ones dealt with it much better, some dodging, a few bracing against the shove and staying upright and some deflecting the Captain's hands. When she came to Tarren he'd formed a plan and put it into action. When shoved, Tarren stepped out of the way and forward and at the same time drawing one of his large revolvers, though he made sure not to point it at the captain or have his finger on the trigger.

After disengaging and moving on to test the last other recruit the captain came back to Tarren and looked him in the eye with her own eyeless gaze before simply saying, “Come with me, Recruit,” and exiting the room, beckoning Tarren to follow as she walked towards the door. 

Tarren did follow and saw a Surren with a staff enter the room as he and the Captain left. As they walked through the halls the Captain said, “I am Captain Ka’Senavarillika, but please call me Sena outside the company of other Cors. In fact, I’d like you to address me casually, I prefer my trainees to be more of friends, or at least equals, than subordinates.” When Tarren nodded she asked, “What's your name?”

“My name is Tarren. Can I ask why you chose me though?” The recruit absentmindedly asked as he was busy taking in the Captain's voice, which he actually found to be calming and pleasant despite being a bit taken aback by her unusual use of the slang word for her race.

“Your reaction showed more initiative than the others. Nobody but you even touched a weapon. That and your skill set was...interesting.” 

Tarren shrank at that comment. Out of the many skills the paperwork yesterday had asked whether he had, he only possessed a few.

After their brief exchange the pair stopped and Sena opened the door to a small office with only a writing desk, a chair on either side a steaming brass brewing machine and a mail pipe in it. The two sat down, Sena sinking into the soft armchair behind the desk and Tarren taking the simple wooden chair across from her. 

Sena spoke again once Tarren had made himself as comfortable as he could in the hard chair and she had pulled a small ceramic tablet stamped with the Besteirixa division crest from a desk drawer. Tarren recognized it as one of the tablets Corvehtians used for anything written to compensate for their lack of traditional sight.

“I’ll be evaluating your skill set and determining your need, if any, for further training,” She said in a bored voice, claw slowly moving over the tablet she held. “This process was put in place by,” Sena paused and then said, “You seem to somehow be both bored and scared,” She commented. 

She was right of course, Tarren’s face had slipped into the same vacant expression it used to when his boss would lecture everyone at his machining job the one that he used to conceal his worry about low production numbers. Tarren however jumped a little at Ka’Sena’s comment though, he hadn’t expected her to notice or even care for that matter.

“I figured there would be something like this. I guess I’m just worried that I won’t be able to make it here.” Tarren sighed after confessing his worry and simply slumped over in his seat, supporting himself with his elbows on his knees. 

Sena looked Tarren over, she simply said, “You’ll make it. I’m the one training you and I’ve never had a recruit leave or die under my instruction and I don’t plan for that to change so sit up and tell me, what can you do?” 

Tarren sat up and said, “Well, I’m a decent shot with a pistol, better with a rifle, I can perform some minor fire and air channeling as well as being able to produce some fair quality items given access to some tools and a focus.” Tarren cringed when he realized exactly how little he was able to do that might be of use. 

Sena grinned. “Then we’ll be heading out to the practice yard. If you can pass a few tests then we’ll go camping in the Wilds tomorrow so I can teach you about survival outside the city.” Sena got up and gestured for Tarren to follow her. He did, though not without almost forgetting his coat and having to abruptly stop and awkwardly lean back to get it while half way out the door. 

The pair left the office hallway at a brisk pace, the muffled sound of magically charged gunfire getting louder as they neared the end of the hall. Sena walked through the door at the hallway’s end, letting the sounds of shouting people, firearms and clattering steel be heard clearly. Tarren caught the door as it closed and slipped through into another hall, this one well lit by it’s windows that looked out into the building’s courtyard, now full of practice targets, weapon racks and trainees all drilling various maneuvers under the command of a man with one artifice arm, an arm made of metal and enchanted to be animated and move in response to thoughts, and an eyepatch over his right eye as well as an officer’s sabre on his belt. 

“We’ll be using the yard next to this one,” Sena said, leading Tarren around the corner of the hall and then left, into a courtyard with nobody in it. “Now, let’s see what you can do with those hand cannons you carry around. Shoot the target over there.” Sena pointed to a target at least fifty feet away that was likely a bit over a meter wide. 

Tarren pulled his gun from it’s holster, cocked it, aimed with great focus and fired. His shot landing about two thirds of a meter from the center of the target. 

“Now again, don’t stop until I say so,” Sena sternly ordered. When Tarren ran out of of his own ammunition, the twelve shots he carried, Sena brought him more from the weapon rack. Only when the target’s center and second ring were thoroughly shredded from the gunfire did she give the order to stop. 

“That was good shooting,” Sena said as Tarren lowered his gun, “Room for improvement, but still good. Now, are you any good at melee combat?” She asked, retrieving a pair of small wooden rods, about a foot in length, that were covered in runes.

Tarren shook his head. “Not really, I took fencing lessons in school but I was never any good.”

“Fencing doesn’t count anyway,” Sena said, handing Tarren a metal rod about a foot in length. “Have you ever used and illusory weapon before?” She asked.

“I haven’t,” Tarren said, experimentally poking one of the runes and flinching as suddenly it both looked and felt like he was holding a longsword. 

“Well you seem to see how they work, they’re rather intuitive things.” Sena made hers into a pair of blades, one long and curved, the other short and straight. “Just find a weapon you like the feel of, and then we’ll start sparring because you’ll need to be able to defend yourself up close if you want to survive.” 

Tarren settled on a falchion with an S curved guard and took a fencing stance, hoping it would apply well enough to this to work. 

“Alright, now simply try to defend against my attacks,” Sena said just before launching into a viciously swift series of attacks that Tarren could only barely keep up with. Unfortunately for Tarren, Sena proved to be much too quick with her blades and struck him in the neck with her dagger while he was distracted by her scimitar. For a moment Tarren panicked. Then he realized that all the blade felt like was a light, but still noticeable, pressure and he relaxed.

The pair sparred for hours, taking the occasional break to get water when needed. After many unsuccessful matches Tarren actually managed to score a hit against Sena, who congratulated him on his improvement, telling him they’d be practicing like this every day they were at base until he could reliably strike her. 

Tarren, now exhausted and leaning against the pipework that they got water from for support asked, “Sena, why train me like this anyway? Doesn’t the Besteirixa division fight beasts much too large for melee combat to be a viable option?” Tarren noticed that the Corvethian’s shortened name rolled off his tongue better than those of other people he’d met. 

“A good question,” Sena said, “First, you’ll want it so that you can fend off something the size of a person if you need to, and you will need to. Second, it’ll teach you better footwork and make you better at dodging attacks in general,” Sena explained before checking her watch. Looking back to Tarren she said, “There is one thing I have yet to see you do and that’s use any of your elemental channeling. I want you to show me the height of what you can do with it.” 

 

Tarren took a drink of water and nodded almost gravely. He took what was almost a swordsman’s stance and brought his hands to bear in front of him, moving them carefully and slowly now as if they were unstable explosives. He traced a pattern in the air with his left hand at an arm’s length and the telltale iridescent shimmer of magic could be seen around it, then as it became an orange glowing cloud he brought it to his right hand which was still by his body, cupped as if waiting to receive something. Then the cloud of magic touched his hand he put his two hands together, as if compressing the cloud and then thrust them forward, toward the empty courtyard with his index and middle finger on each hand extended and from then erupted a massive cone of fire that extended almost the entire length of the courtyard. Even Sena flinched when she felt the heat radiating from it, but she remained where she was. 

When the cone died down a few seconds later she clapped enthusiastically, smiling at Tarren. “That was an impressive display,” She said. 

Tarren half sat, half flopped onto the grass of the courtyard that hadn’t been burnt away by his display. “Thank you, but that’s about the best I can do, and only under ideal circumstances,” He said, slowly getting back up and making his way to the water fountain. 

“Then how well do you cast under stress?” Sena asked, also having a drink from the tap. 

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve only cast when I’m in a class or just using it as a utility,” Tarren said, the dejection evident in his voice. 

“Well then we’ll find out tomorrow but right now I want you to get something to eat and then rest. I’ll get you tomorrow when it’s time to leave.” Tarren stood up and was about to speak when Sena held up a finger. “The other recruits are eating in the mess hall. It’s straight down this hallway, then take a right and past that it’ll be the statue of Rodak. 

“Thank you, Sena,” Tarren said, “But I have one question. Are you a mage yourself?” 

“I am,” She said, “Don’t worry Tarren, I know how bad casting failures can be if that’s what you’re worried about.” 

“I-it was, I just had to be sure,” Tarren said, unconsciously rubbing his left wrist through his shirt’s sleeve. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Tarren said as he made his way towards the door and left for the mess hall. 

The rest of the night passed mostly in peace with Tarren listening to the other recruits talking about what they’d been doing all day, one in particular, the Corvethian by the name of Karadisimalvitan, from earlier talking about his left arm now being in a cast because of how his instructor had made him drill his Physical magic until he failed to keep his concentration and had to be carted off to the medical ward. Other than that and the surprisingly good food nothing quite caught Tarren’s attention.

The next morning Tarren woke up and went about his morning routine cleaning and shave before putting on his usual white shirt, gray trousers and weapon belts as well as his tool bag and then going to find Sena in her office. 

The door creaked open a few inches when he knocked on it and Tarren saw Ka’Sena sitting in her soft armchair and sharpening a scimitar with two packs sitting on the desk. 

“Welcome to day one of your actual training,” She said with a smile, the light from the sunstone on the ceiling giving her scales a shine that Tarren had trouble taking his eyes off of. 

“You said we’d be camping right? What’s the sword for?” Tarren asked, nervously fiddling with his collar. 

“Have you ever been out of the cities? The sword is just in case something decides we look tasty.”

“Fair enough, I guess. So where are we going to camp?” 

“We’ll be going to the middle of the forest nearby and making our way up mount Zeniriss. Should be about a five or six day trip,” Sena said as she sheathed her scimitar and stood up. “Now grab your pack and let’s go, the airship that’s taking us leaves soon.” 

As the captain left the room she took a pack with her, leaving Tarren to take the remaining bag and follow Sena up a flight of stairs and onto a rooftop landing pad with a metal longboat that included a roof, externally mounted arcane engines and four separate auto loading cannons waited for the pair.

Sena lightly smacked Tarren in the leg with her tail and with a half suppressed grin said, “Stop gawking and get in.” 

And so Tarren made his way up the short ramp and into the cramped passenger compartment with Sena close behind him. The pair took a seat on the metal benches among all the other passengers and settled in as Sena briefed Tarren on what local wildlife the two might encounter. 

The pair disembarked at a clearing in the woods and watched as the airship took off again to deposit the other Besteirixa hunters somewhere farther away, likely to defend on of the farms near the Metronnian border. Tarren then flinched and went rigid, almost going for his revolver as he felt something brush firmly across his back but sighed in relief when he realized it was just Sena’s tail and that she’d be trying to get his attention. Tarren now saw that she was pointing to a trail with one hand and motioning to get moving with the other. 

“Does the forest have you on edge, Tarren?” the Corvethian asked as the two left the clearing and started looking for a good place to set up camp. 

“I guess it does, I can’t get the stories about the creatures that live out here out of my head,” Tarren said, looking over his shoulder.

“Well I guess that’s understandable for someone who’s never left the city.” Ka’Sena paused and her head tilted. “Tarren, why did you join the division?” She asked as the two of them started up a hill. 

Tarren said nothing, the weight of the question dragging his gaze to the ground. 

“Well? I’ll not be traveling with someone who’s motivations are unknown to me.” 

As they came to the top of the small hill the human morosely said, “I didn’t have anywhere else to go. My manufacturing job fired me. After that I wanted to make something of myself and I’d heard the Besteirixa division could be rather indiscriminate with its recruitment so I joined up.”

Sena’s posture sagged and she hung her head. “I know it probably doesn’t mean much to you,” she said, “but I understand.” She dropped her pack. “There’s a storm coming, and not a normal one, a mana-storm” she stated with forced calm. “We need to make camp before it starts. Set up a tent while I find firewood,” She ordered, her voice now stern, yet not having completely lost its softer qualities. 

Tarren flinched, knowing full well the danger and unpredictable weather these storms could bring but then nodded silently and started to set up the tent, astonished at how the surprisingly large shelter had been folded down so small. 

As he finished with the shelter Sena returned, firewood under one arm and a stick as tall as her in the other hand. 

“Start a fire while I work on making a focus,” she said, handing Tarren the wood. 

He looked nervously at the rapidly darkening sky and started assembling a small campfire and lighting it with his magic as the Corvethian set to work carving runes into the stick with a small knife. 

When she finished carving the branch thunder roared and snow started to fall. 

“I’m going to make a stone shelter to shield the tent, stand back,” Sena said as she lifted the branch, now carved into a staff, above her head and then struck the soil with it. 

Walls of stone sprung from the ground and surrounded the tent and fire and making a sort of pyramid shaped igloo with a chimney coming off of the top. 

“Now get in, we don’t have much time before the snow really starts and odds are it’ll bury us if the snow picks up.” Sena quickly made her way into the shelter. 

Taking a look at the snow that had started falling rather heavily Tarren followed. Once inside the oddly cozy shelter Tarren saw Sena rummaging in her pack and pulling out two small, leather parcels. 

“Here,” she said, “Rations.” 

The two unwrapped their meals and dug into the small steaks and diced baked potatoes. 

As they finished the small meal Sena asked, “Tarren, I don’t suppose you have a working heating stone on hand to you?” She held up a small, oval shaped rock, carved with a rune and said, “The storm seems to be negating mine.” 

Tarren rummaged in his pack and found a similar stone which also lacked the telltale glow of a working rune. 

“Mine isn’t working either,” he said with an almost guilty twinge to his voice. “I guess I didn’t account for a storm’s interference when I made it.” 

“Eh, half the time it’s not worth the effort anyway. One little deviation from standard interference and poof, your effort’s wasted.” 

Tarren started eating, “So what’s your thing anyway?” Tarren asked around a bite of steak, “Sorry, I should clarify. What’s your skill set? You seem to know about hand to hand fighting and earth manipulation but past that I’ve got no idea what you can do.”

Ka’Sena laughed. “That’s actually about it. I have some survival skills, I can fight if I’m armed with most normal weapons and I can do some stone magic.” She smiled.” Any other personal questions?” She asked in mock offense.

Tarren smiled as well. “Well if you’re answering them, why’d you join the division?” 

 

“I’d rather not talk about that,” she said in a voice colder than the snow outside their shelter.

The two ate in silence for a while before Sena spoke up. “I’ll answer if you tell me what happened with your manufacturing job.” 

Tarren sighed. “The company didn’t like that I had a mind of my own. Our boss gave us quotas that couldn’t be met without working double shifts for months. They didn’t like when I spoke up about that. Turns out they also fired a bunch of people for not being able to meet their quotas later that month so I guess it’s good that I got out early. What about you then, what’s your story?”

“I could never even find work,” Sena said with a dejected look. “Well I found some. I worked as a waitress but then the cafe fired me because I didn’t have good enough ‘people skills’ and after that nowhere would hire me. Then it was either join up or...I don’t even know. Turn to crime I guess.” 

Tarren sat in stunned silence for a moment. “For what it’s worth, I think you have good people skills. At the very least I think you’re likeable,” He said with a slight blush that he was infinitely grateful a Corvethian’s echolocation wouldn’t reveal.

“You know, Tarren, that’s nice to hear,” she said quietly, almost shyly.

The two finished their meal, discussing their plans for the following day which were essentially: dig themselves out of the snow if needed, pack up camp, move further towards the location where they were supposed to meet another team, hunt something for food so Tarren could learn how to skin things, then if there was still time, Sena would make Tarren cast some very minor magic while generally being a distraction for practice. Then the two changed into the warm nightclothes they’d packed just in case something like this happened.

In the night Tarren woke up to some rustling and shifting next to him. 

“Tarren?” Ka’Sena asked, “Would you be opposed to me sleeping in your bedroll? It’s probably nothing for you but the cold is getting to me.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, “Just get in quick, I don’t wanna let the heat out.” 

The Corvethian slipped into Tarren’s bedroll as quickly as she could. Tarren was surprised to find out just how cold she was but thought back to his old biology lessons, remembering that while Corvethians weren’t cold blooded they still didn’t produce as much body heat as humans or Surrens. He then had to turn over to face away from Sena as certain other biological issues made themselves apparent. The two went to sleep again, Ka’Sena now pressed against Tarren’s back, her cool scales a comforting presence as he drifted off.

When Tarren woke up he momentarily wondered wondered where he was and why there was someone against his back but it quickly all came back to him. He slowly rose and put on his outdoor clothes, hoping his coat would help with the cold that the storm had brought. As he did so Sena grumbled her arm sliding off him when he sat up. Apparently she’d draped it over him in her sleep, at least he thought.

Looking out the flap of the tent he could see the snow was about a foot deep, certainly an inconvenience but at least they wouldn't have to dig themselves out. Tarren went outside and dug a circle in the snow so that the ground showed and lit a fire in it, enjoying the warmth. It wasn’t quite freezing but it was certainly cold enough to be uncomfortable even with his coat. Then he started to melt some of the snow in a pan to refill what little they’d emptied from their cantens the previous day as he took in the odd view of snow blanketing the ancient oak forest. 

Tarren heard crunching snow behind him as the water finished melting. Sena had woken up and was standing behind him. 

 

“Good, you know to get fresh water,” she said. “I’m going to finish waking up and then we’re off to look for something to hunt.” 

“Alright then.” Tarren filled the canteens shortly after and then they were off. 

The pair climbed down the hill they’d camped on top of and made their way into the forest, wandering vaguely in the direction of the rendezvous until they found tracks. The tracks themselves were three toed and clawed as well as being about as large as a person’s foot, though despite their similarities weren’t that of a Corvethian’s foot. 

“Have you seen tracks like these before?” Tarren heard Ka’Sena ask as he gathered berries for dinner that night. 

He went over to examine the tracks. “Are these Lenik tracks?”

“They are, why’d you know about them?” the Corvethian asked with a slight grin. 

“I actually remember from a zoology class back in university.”

“Ever hunted one then? Or have you just looked at them through enclosure bars?” 

“I’ve never hunted in the first place.” 

“Then get those guns ready.” Sena frowned when Tarren took off his pack. “What are you doing?” 

“Getting a better gun for hunting ready. I don’t want those things within pistol range, I’ve seen what they can do to a person....well, a pig, but the poor thing was alive. I’m not letting them get close.” He pulled three pieces of a rifle out of his pack and assembled them into a two and a half foot long brass and wood contraption with arcane runes inscribed along the two stacked barrels. He exposed the two cylinders for ammunition i had and loaded one with a few shells and the other with a handful of bullets.

“What in the world is that mad contraption?” Sena asked as she peered down the path that the Lenik trail was on. 

“It’s what I got fired for making at my machining job.” 

“Well then they were stupid for firing you....and you were stupid for not telling me you had it and showing it to me during our first practice session.”

Tarren scowled. She was right of course and he knew it. “I’m-.” Tarren had started to apologize but Ka’Sena cut him off. 

“Don’t apologize, that never fixes anything,” she said, rubbing her arm.

He thought for a moment. “Want to use it?” he asked apologetically. 

Sena said nothing, but motioned to hand her the odd rifle. 

Tarren did so, saying, “The hammer operates the top cylinder, the slide is for the bottom.”

Sena pumped the slide experimentally as she set off down the trail with Tarren in tow. 

It was after an hour of careful tracking that the two came across the Lenik pack milling about in a clearing, digging in the snow. The four iridescent scaled lizards were the size of boars and had teeth and claws like serrated knives. Sena fixed her almost sword length bayonet to the rifle Tarren had let her borrow. The pack was far off enough that the lizards hadn’t seen the two of them, but one seemed to have gotten their scent and was looking around. Tarren and Ka’Sena ducked into a large patch of undergrowth when they saw it puff up, its sharp scales standing on end. 

“Tarren, roast one of them while I take a shot then get ready for the other two to charge. I’ll fire when you do.”

Tarren nodded and from his position in the undergrowth gathered the magic in the air around his right hand, using his left to make careful circling motions that contained it. Then he stood. He pointed with two fingers and a stream of fire shot from his fingers and hit the nearest Lenik, scorching a hole that went deep into its chest.He watched it fall and then he heard Sena fire his rifle and saw another one drop. 

Just like the Corvethian predicted the other two charged. Tarren sidestepped but the lizard charging him adjusted its path and kept coming as he drew his pistols. He fumbled the draw for his left hand pistol but drew his right hand weapon and got a shot off just as the beast was closing in. Unfortunately the shot did nothing and the Lenik pounced at Tarren. 

 

Tarren managed to dodge the pounce but only barely, still getting a set of terrible feeling gashes along his right arm. Then it recovered bit his hand faster than he could react. Tarren screamed in pain as the knifelike teeth pierced his flesh and the beast started shaking its head, Tarren’s left hand trapped in its mouth. He tried to shoot it again but the creature shook him at just the wrong moment. 

 

“BEHIND YOU!” Tarren heard Sena yell. But he was too slow to turn around. Something heavy hit him in the back, knocking his pistol from his hand. 

He saw a flash of blue and heard deafening gunshots and realized it was Sena charging the other Lenik with her bayoneted rifle, firing the whole way and continuing as she stabbed the creature. Tarren tried to go for his gun but the Lenik pulled him further away from it. He noticed that the pain was gone and realized that that was the telltale numbing of the Lenik’s paralyzing venom. Tarren did the only thing he could think of. He gathered the same magic he’d used for his fire casting only moments ago. This time however he didn’t bother to focus it, he simply gathered it and put in all the concentration he could to shielding himself from it. When he released the energy the Lenik popped like a balloon in a shower of scales and gore.

Tarren tried to get up. When his limbs didn’t respond to anything he tried to make them do he realized the venom must have set in. He saw Ka’Sena walking over to him though. She was uninjured. 

“You alive?” Sena asked, the sarcasm practically radiating from her.

Tarren groaned in pain. “Yeah,” he tried to say but all his paralyzed mouth could form was “eh.”

“So, I take it you learned rule one of fighting Leniks?” She asked with a wry grin. 

He tried to say ‘don’t get bit’ but it came out as, “Doe heh biv?” 

The Corvethian laughed. “Exactly. I guess I’ll set up camp here. Don’t go anywhere.” She chuckled to herself and Tarren groaned in embarrassment. 

Sena went about setting up the tent and then propped Tarren up against a stone wall she’d erected around the tent. Then she dragged the Leniks over to her folding stool and set about cutting them apart. Not saying a word the entire time. 

Eventually Tarren’s leg twitched. He’d been trying to move the entire time he’d been paralyzed but only just now had it responded. 

When Sena noticed she finally said something. “Did you mean to do that or are spasms setting in?” She asked, almost coldly.

When Tarren tried to talk he found that he could actually speak now. “Are you ok?” he asked, “You seem upset.”

“Answer the question, Rookie.”

“Fine, I meant to do it. Now will you tell me what’s bothering you?” 

“A lot of things. Currently though, your lack of questions. It seems like you’re just going along with whatever I say. The division needs people who want to be there, not just people who’re going to coast along because those are always the people who end up buckling under pressure.”

“Sena, let me set some things straight,” Tarren said as assertively as he could from his still partially paralyzed position. “First, I do want to be here. I don’t think I realized it until earlier but I’m not just here because I got fired from my old job, even then I wanted something more. Second, I think I’ve proven that I can at least function under pressure. And third, I’ve been going along with what you say because I know for a fact you know more about what’s going on than I do.” Sena nodded and was about to speak when Tarren continued. “Now if you’ll excuse me I have a question.” He waited for her approval to ask, hoping he wasn’t out of line. 

The worry may have been evident on his face because Sena chuckled quietly to herself. “Go ahead.” 

“Do all the division captains work like you? From what I always heard they treat their command almost like military commanders.”

She thought for a moment before saying, “Captains are given lots of freedom. I like to only have one or two recruits at a time. Recruits I can get closer to and train with a more unusual approach, less drilling more doing.” Tarren nodded, satisfied with the explanation. “Recruits that usually go on to become captains like me,” she added.

He cocked his head but didn’t say anything. Still, he wondered why she’d added that. 

Ka’Sena went back to carving the Lenik corpses and Tarren went back to trying to make his body move in more than just small twitches. 

Tarren regained full motion as Sena was starting to roast Lenik tails on the fire she’d built. He got up slowly. The motion was dizzying and he had to support himself on the stone wall Sena had summoned around the tent. The Corvethian watched him, smiling as he caught himself and fully stood up, but not saying anything the whole time. 

“Well,” Ka’Sena asked, “Now that you’re up do you think you could manage making some heat runes to replace the ones that didn’t work?” 

“Maybe. Have anything I can make them out of?”

Sena produced the two non-functioning stones from her pack. “Will these do?” 

“They ought to. Can you bring them over? I don’t trust myself to walk quite yet.” 

Sena brought the stones over and handed them to Tarren. 

“Stand back,” he said. “My artificing can be a bit unstable.” 

 

Sena moved away and Tarren walked to the other side of the shelter, still leaning against the wall. He started the process of gathering magic and forcing it into the stone, focusing his mind on his task and pulling it from the air as if his hands were nets scooping it up and then balling up the iridescent gas around the stone. Then he forced the glowing substance into the stone while keeping his mind on what he wanted it to do. Then he repeated the process on the second stone. 

Shakily, Tarren stood up and made his way back around the tent. “I charged the runes on the heating stones but I don’t think they’ll be very effective.”

“Exactly how effective will they be?” Sena asked as she took the cooking lizard tails off the fire. 

“Well they’ll keep us from freezing but that’s about it. If you want it to be a comfortable night we should probably sleep in the same bedroll again.” 

“Oh,” was all the Corvethian said as she plated a tail cut for each of them and stored the rest. “Well c’mon and eat before it gets dark.” 

“Is something wrong?” Tarren asked as he dug in to the oddly tender roasted tail. 

“Not at all,” Sena said with a low tone. The ate too before continuing. “Let’s discuss the plan for tomorrow.”

Tarren set up the heating stones to warm up the shelter before they turned in for the night and sat back down outside. They decided that the best way to approach the rendezvous would be to stay in the forest and avoid the surrounding hills in hoes that the trees would mean less snow on the ground to trudge through and generally more availability for anything they might need to forage for. 

When the two were done eating Sena asked Tarren to give her some privacy and ducked into the shelter. Tarren set about washing the plates with some melted snow and a cloth so they wouldn’t be carrying around greasy trays in a pack. A few minutes of awkwardly sitting around later Sena called to Tarren from the tent. 

“You can come in now.”

When Tarren walked in he saw Ka’Sena wearing basic night clothes that looked like they’d be rather good at trapping heat. 

“I won’t ask you to leave,” Tarren said, “But would you mind turning around while I change?”

Sena just stood there ‘looking’ at Tarren, her features showing her disbelief. Then she smiled and jokingly asked, “Tarren, you are aware that I don’t have eyes right?” He sighed wearily, hoping Sena wouldn’t make fun of him too badly for that. “You’re also aware,” she continued, “That we see using echolocation, right?” 

Now Tarren was confused. He groaned and asked, “Where’s this going?”

Ka’Sena laughed and said, “Not only does it not matter if I turn around or not but when you changed in the tent yesterday I ‘saw’ everything.” 

“You could have said something.” Tarren groaned as he buried his now crimson face in his palms.

He heard Ka’Sena move closer to him. “I could have, but I didn’t mind the show,” she said in a low, sultry tone as she moved closer. 

“Woah, wait.” She backed off when Tarren said that. “I...I have both questions and concerns about this.” 

“I thought you wanted me? I also saw why you turned over last night when I pressed against you.” 

“Again, wait,” Tarren said. “I’m sorry but this is a little sudden and much more unexpected.” 

Sena sat down across from Tarren and asked, “What concerns do you have then?”

“First off,” Tarren began, “You’re my superior officer. I know you have a lot of leeway in how you handle things but it can’t be that much can it?”

“It can be that much and in fact: is,” Sena said calmly. “As for why so sudden.” Sena withdrew a little, frowning and letting out a heavy sigh. “I guess I realized life is short. You almost got eaten and that has a way of putting things in perspective. I guess I just realized I should take the chance rather than regret what could’ve been if you end up…” she trailed off.

“Well now I’m just annoyed at myself for killing the mood,” Tarren said, tryin to lighten the mood. Sena chuckled a little. “C’mon, let’s just get some sleep, yeah?” Tarren held open his bedroll, which Sena slipped into before reaching over and turning off the oil lantern that had been lighting the shelter. 

When Tarren woke up the next morning Sena had already left their shelter. When he stepped out after getting dressed he found her frying eggs in a pan with lizard tail meat. 

“Where’d you get the eggs?” he asked groggily.

“There was a bird nest up a tree,” she pointed at a nearby oak. 

“So what are we gonna do today?” Tarren asked as he sat down on the other camping stool.

“Well, we’re actually making good time on getting to the rendezvous point so I figure we’ll just book it for there and be a day earlier than the other team. Then we’ll do training drills tomorrow but that’ll be more to kill time than anything. I mostly just wanted to have you get in a real fight at some point and you’ve done that.” 

“The Leniks?” Tarren asked. 

“Right. I don’t think I said this so I will now. You handled yourself well. Well enough that when we get back I’m going to clear you for the next phase of training.” 

“And what’ll that involve?” 

“Your first large beast hunt.” Sena let that silence hang in the air after she said that.

A few moments later Tarren came out of his stunned silence. “You think I’m ready for that?”

Sena slid the eggs and meat onto plates. “You are.”

They ate breakfast and discussed what Tarren would hunt, though in the end it turned out that what he would hunt was largely up to chance considering it depended on what was available. For the rest of that day the marched towards their destination, arriving there just before nightfall. From up on the hill they could actually see the lights of the other team’s camp in the distance. 

That night Ka’Sena finished dinner before Tarren and went to go relax in the shelter they’d put up, Tarren having managed the tent and Sena having put up the stone walls around it again. 

As she got up she leaned in close and whispered to Tarren, “Feel free to join me when you’re finished,” before dragging the length of her tail along his thigh as she left to enter the tent. 

Tarren finished his food in a hurry. 

When he got up to enter the tent he found a clay tablet sitting in front of it. It was a Corvethian writing slate, the ones they used instead of paper since their echolocation couldn’t pick up ink on paper. 

The note read, “Tarren, I know you have your concerns. Just know that you’re in no way being ordered to do this (me) and that it won’t cause professional issues for either of us, just say the word and we can forget this happened.”

Tarren smiled as he entered the tent. When he did he found Sena lying across a bedroll wearing nothing at all. She got up and pressed herself against him, immediately moving to take off his coat. He moved to help her, shrugging it off. Then it happened, she pressed her scaled mouth against his in a deep, passionate kiss. He felt Sena’s tail wrap around his waist as she started to unbutton his shirt. 

Tarren wrapped his arms around Sena, one hand on her waist, hiling her against him, the other sliding down her smooth scales and drifting down between her legs. Sena moaned his fingers find their way into the slit her scales. As she recovered from the pleasing shock of Tarren’s fingers Ka’Sena slipped his shirt off him and undid his belt buckle, letting his pants fall to the ground. 

Tarren willingly fell when Sena pushed him onto the bedroll. She kissed Tarren again, even more passionately than before before turning around on top of him and straddling his face. Tarren knew what she wanted him to do and did it, pressing his tongue into Ka’Sena’s slit and searching for the spots she seemed to enjoy him licking the most. Then it was Tarren’s turn to be stunned with pleasure as he felt Sena’s tongue wrap around his shaft. Then he felt her needle sharp teeth ever so gently graze him as she took the entirety of his length in her mouth. 

Tarren went back to licking Sena, still loving the feeling of her cool scales against his skin. He held onto her thigh with on hand and stroked her tail with his other. Soon he felt Sena’s folds squeezing his tongue and she moaned around his shaft as her tail went rigid. Then she rolled off him and turned around. 

“Mmm, I hope you’re as good with other parts of you as you are with that tongue,” Sena whispered in a sultry tone. 

“Well you’re about to find out if I am,” Tarren said in a quiet, husky voice. 

He rolled over on top of Sena and aligned himself with her entrance. She held onto his shoulders as he teasingly rubbed her slit with the tip of his shaft. Then he slid himself into Sena. The both moaned, feeling the vibration in the other’s chest. Tarren began to thrust. Sena moaned louder and gripped him tighter. 

Soon Ka’Sena started moving as well, thrusting her own hips back against Tarren when he would move. After not too long they’d fallen into a rhythm, a rhythm that Sena broke when she lightly bit Tarren’s shoulder, just hard enough to make him feel it. He stopped, though only for a moment, before he kissed Sena’s neck and ran his tongue along her scales before thrusting into her again, harder and deeper than before. As they continued Tarren’s motions grew more erratic, becoming faster and smaller as he felt his release building. 

“I’m close,” he groaned in warning. 

Sena said nothing but wrapped her legs around his back and pulled him closer. When Tarren felt Sena’s folds tighten around him for the second time pleasure washed over him and her came. 

Tarren collapsed to the side and Ka’Sena snuggled up against him as they slipped into the other bedroll and fell asleep in each other’s arms. 

The next morning Tarren awoke to find Sena fast asleep against him. He just lie there for a while until he felt her stirring. 

Later they had fully woken up and started going about their day, which mostly consisted of Sena training Tarren in more close combat, though this time it seemed like she was doing everything she could to grapple him. They kept it up until the other team arrived and then stopped to help them fortify the position as a training exercise for the recruits. When that was done they sent up the signal flair for the airship which took them back to base. 

The (Abrupt) End

**Author's Note:**

> (Let me know what I could have done better with this story in the comments. I know this probably isn't great.)


End file.
